One of the great things about being a West Ham United fan is how deeply steeped in tradition the club is, and how many iconic references come with that.
The song I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles is recognised all over the world, and epitomises the East End heritage from which we come.
Another is the badge. The crossed hammers and castle are synonymous symbols of the club, and where our roots lie.
And it was this recognition we wanted to encapsulate when creating a badge for our supporters group Down Under.
Sydney Hammers committee member Mike Bullen explains: “After watching the Sydney Hammers grow from 20 to more than 150 members we started talking about how we wanted to create a unique identity for the club.
“Something that showed that we were West Ham but something that was uniquely Australia West Ham.”
The original club crest was a crossed pair of rivet hammers; tools commonly used in the iron and shipbuilding industry. A castle was later (circa 1903/04) added to the crest and may well represent a prominent local building, Green Street House, which was known as “Boleyn Castle” through an association with Anne Boleyn. (Read more about the badge here)
Mike put his hand up to work on the Sydney specific design and drew the original sketches, before sending it to an illustrator to refine the logo.
“We wanted something that was uniquely NSW so we started out with a number of concepts using the Opera House, the harbour bridge, a map of NSW and after playing around with different designs, we decided to go with the Opera House,” Mike said.
“The illustrator showed us four different design styles and between the committee we made a couple of changes and ended up with the design you see today.”
The aim is to have a range of merchandise displaying the crest. T-shirts and badges have already been produced, but as Mike says “the skies the limit”.
“Originally it was just for the Facebook page and website but now we have had some Sydney Hammer shirts made and endorsed by the club,” he said.
“We’ve been contacted by a supplier about getting SH pins made and there has been some talk around getting a flag done up too.”
The badge has received really positive feedback from the club, and the committee have been working with contacts at West Ham. The aim was to make sure they approved it and were happy for us to incorporate the Irons logo for our own use.
Mike added: “West Ham have been great throughout the whole process.
“I’m really happy with the design. It means a lot to all of us that West Ham has officially endorsed it as it gives us an identity as Sydney based West Ham United supporters.”
The hammers might be OK with it, what about BFO, big fat o’farrell ?